


Not All Right

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Episode 94, Fluff and Angst, In which I avoid describing the Beast, It's All Right, It's Allllll Right, It's Alllllllllllllllllll Riiiiiiiight, M/M, Tattooed Cecil, The Weather (Welcome to Night Vale), Typical Night Vale Weirdness, alternative ending, and his tattoos can do cool things like become prehensile appendages because Night Vale, and yet also describe it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-18 12:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13681953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: The beast in episode 94 is not after some faceless character. No, it is after someone you know and love, Cecil, someone you know and love.





	Not All Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saiph_ire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saiph_ire/gifts).



> I recently remembered Night Vale existed and _hoh boy_ I am in too deep. ~~that's actually impossible though as this is a bottomless pit~~ I just???? the boys??? Cecilos???? EPISODE 100????? and 111???? and every single episode???? 
> 
> possibly spoilers up to episode 94, which this is an alternative ending to. 
> 
> This is for Saiph as I enjoy a friend to scream with.  
>  ~~And a friend to watch as I inflict such pain on them.~~

_“Also, a horrible accident on Route 99 happened while I was talking about humming, and the highway is now closed in both directions until everyone feels emotionally prepared to drive again.”_

Carlos blinked at the traffic report and desperately hoped whoever had been in the accident hadn’t been attempting to do Cecil’s little humming experiment. The radio, being mandatory listening much like the televisions, was always on in cars in Night Vale, and people sometimes seemed to be under mind control when it came to Cecil telling them to do something.

Carlos was not immune to this, oh no not at _all._ He, however, knew that he was not under mind control as he was capable of not doing whatever Cecil told him to do. It was much harder over the radio, however. Perhaps it had something to do with Station Management? Or the Radio Tower itself, that was entirely possible considering all the other strange things that went on in the building.

He filed that thought away to study later when he wasn’t writing a long and complicated energy equation out. Physics as he knew it did not work in Night Vale, so he wasn’t sure the equation would work even if he managed to remember all the correct types of energy, but if it didn’t there was still valuable information to be learned from that. The information being nothing he didn’t already know, merely a scientific confirmation that Night Vale was, indeed, scientifically weird.

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn_

Carlos snapped his head up from his paper and definitely-not-illegal pen. Had he heard something? No one else was in the lab; as Cecil worked late he worked late and thus he left after the rest of his team. None of the experiments they were currently running should have been making noise. Maybe someone had left something and come back for it?

“Nils?”

_“Turn around, slowly, in a circle. If you cannot turn, just pivot your head.”_

Hmmm, it had probably just been some weird feedback on the radio. Although the radio was ridiculously feedback free. They’d tried to create interference once. It had resulted in several trips to the hospital and one perfectly normal, perfectly crystal clear radio signal. He turned back to his equation. Was this one going to need radiant energy? Given Night Vale physics, probably.

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnn_

He looked up again. The noise was definitely closer, and definitely there. Cecil’s words from earlier in the broadcast echoed through Carlos’s brain: “We have been informed that a very dangerous creature has accidentally been released into Night Vale by the federal government, and it could be any place that this radio signal reaches.” Surely whatever it was couldn’t be in his lab, right. Right? Right. Nothing to worry about. Everything was all right. Allll right. Alllllllll right.

He slipped one headphone off anyway. He needed to figure out what that sound was.

_“Actually, on the off chance that you are about to die, it’s probably best you don’t see it coming. Close your eyes, put your other headphone on.”_

He stood up and leaned over his desk, trying to see into the darkness of the corner of the lab the noise had come from. Dammit, he really needed to remember to get a lamp that wouldn’t get sucked into the small black hole that occasionally appeared in that corner. He couldn’t see anything.

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnn_

The noise was even closer.

_“Yes. We’re listening to me on both sides now. We’re going to keep our eyes closed, and wait to see if we die.”_

Something moved. Something stepped out of the shadows of the corner. It was big, and particularly eldritch and Night Valean. It keened again, its big, beady eyes staring directly at him.

_“And while we wait, let’s have a look at the weather.”_

There was a tense, frozen, moment between when Cecil stopped talking and the opening notes of the weather chimed out. (Cecil insisted that it was an actual weather report, but he still couldn't find the pattern.) Carlos had time to wish he was wearing his running lab coat before the beast moved and he bolted away from his desk and towards the door.

_SCEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN_ it screeched, bounding across the room. Carlos barreled through the door, swinging it open with his entire body weight behind his shoulder. He had no idea what the things was, no idea how to deal with it, no idea what it wanted. The only thing he knew to do was _run._

He slammed the button that opened the front doors on his way past the desk at the front of the lab and ran into the twilight coating Night Vale. He swerved right towards the parking lot in the Science District. Hopefully he could outrun the creature in his car. There was what sounded like the pounding of hooves behind him, combined with the slithering of tentacles. He refused to glance back. He made it to the edge of the parking lot before realizing there were no cars in it. Of course; driving was illegal on Fridays. Of _all_ the days for Night Vale to decide to try and kill him it just had to be a Friday. He had a date to get to, goddamnit.

Carlos kept running past the parking lot and fervently praised his years of field work for the ability to keep running. He couldn’t run forever, though, he needed a way to get the thing off his tail. He turned down the next street, trying to see if getting out of its sight would allow him time to breathe and think of a plan.

_SCEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNN_

Nope. It was definitely still on his tail, he didn’t need science to know that much. He quickly ran through the people in town that might be able to help him.

Cecil? No. He was not leading this thing anywhere near Cecil. Dana? Probably not, unless the contingent of five-headed dragons that were currently talking to her were capable of dealing with it. Sheriff Sam? Possibly, if he could find him which was likely to prove impossible. Although, Maybe Sam could find _him_ considering the racket the creature was making behind him. Tamika? Likely, if he could make it to her house. Her house was in the opposite direction he was currently running, though. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he turned around. Josie? Probably not, she could barely bowl—wait. _The angels._ The angels could help him. They were powerful enough they could probably get rid of whatever this things was. It was a long shot, but Josie and the angels were in the same direction he was currently running and a lot easier to find than Sam.

Carlos reached into the pocket of his coat and blindly unlocked his phone, almost tripping over a pothole in the process. He didn’t dare look away from the road and blindly pressed one of the first numbers that popped up on his recent calls list. The ring in his headphones was drowned out by a _SCEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN._

“Carlos? What was that?”

“Dana! Dana, that beast Cecil’s been reporting on, it’s after me! I need your help!”

“What? Why is it after you?”

“I don’t know, I can’t science while I’m running for my life. I need you to call Josie and tell her that I need Erika.”

“Erika? Alright, I’ll tell her. Run by City Hall, I’ll tell them to head towards it.”

Dana clicked off and Carlos wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. He didn’t, though.

_SCEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN_

That was why. It sounded closer than it had been last time. He still didn’t dare turn around, but did turn down the next street towards City Hall. At least he had....somewhat of a plan now. He had no idea what the Erikas could do to the beast, if they would be capable of doing anything, but he was trying.

Main Street was long. Carlos could see City Hall, halfway down the street. His lungs were burning from the evening air, lactic acid building in his shins, heartbeat faster than he had ever felt it from adrenaline and fear. His brain was slipping into rationalizing everything happening to him via scientific processes in a futile attempt to provide a sense of safety. He couldn’t rationalize the beast behind him into basic scientific parts. It was getting closer and closer, the sound of beating hooves and the whip of tentacles sneaking up behind him.

_SCEEEEEEEEENNNNNNN_

A blink, and suddenly just on the other side of City Hall Old Woman Josie and three of the definitely-not-angels appeared. Then the sun started setting and the screaming started. It was so loud he couldn’t even hear the beast behind him. He needed the noise to figure out how close it was, how much longer he had to live, whether there would be time for the Erikas to save him.

He turned his head.

Just a little bit, just to see how close the beast was.

His head was turned long enough for him to miss a tree branch lying on the road and for his foot to get caught under it.

Carlos felt the small force on his foot, just enough for his momentum to shift towards the ground. He shot his hands out to catch himself, but the creature was too close, too close, it was going to reach him before he hit the ground—

Something wet, huge, and spongy swirled around him, lifting him off the ground. He had just enough time to wish he’d given Cecil one more peck on the cheek, given him one more hug, said I love you one more time, before he was slammed into the side of the nearest building. The world narrowed down to his last memory of Cecil, his glowing smile as they both left for work. He heard something that might have been his name, and then all that was left was the afterglow of that smile, and then nothing.

* * *

 

“And while we wait, let’s have a look at the weather.”

Cecil gave a thumbs up to Kareem, who switched the broadcast over to the prerecorded weather. He leaned back in his chair and took his headphones off for a moment to rub his ears. He poked a button on his board that shifted his voice into the booth. “Kareem, can you go into the supply closet and find me more headphone pads? These ones are running a little low.” Kareem gave him a thumbs up through the window, visibly gulped, and headed off to the storage closet. Cecil knew he would be fine, though. The storage closet _liked_ Kareem.

Cecil leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head, careful not to run them into the wall lest it try to bite them off. Today’s weather was certainly long enough for a bathroom break. Maybe he would call Carlos, ask to meet him outside the station after his last segment.

He wandered down to the bathroom, daydreaming of his boyfriend. Well, hopefully after tonight it would no longer be boyfriend. Cecil scratched at Khoshekh’s side after he washed his hands and murmured, “He’ll agree, won’t he?”

Khosheckh purred at him, a low, guttural screech of a purr.

Cecil took it as agreement and smiled at the cat. “Yeah, of course he will. He’s perfect like that. I just hope he’s alright with doing it the Night Vale way.”

Khosheckh rubbed his head against Cecil’s hand. Cecil smiled, gently petting the cat. Carlos loved the kittens, maybe once he got here they should spend a little time in the bathroom before going out. Maybe he could convince Carlos to finally figure out a way to move the kittens. And then they would go to Big Rico’s where Carlos could theorize about the kittens over their weekly mandated pizza, and he could watch the flash in his scientist’s eyes once he figured it out, and then they would run to Carlos’s lab to get materials, and they would get the kittens down, and then back in Cecil’s apartment, with one of the kittens scrambling around they would—

His train of thought was cut off by his phone ringing. It wasn’t the timer that would tell him to get back to the booth, nor his ringtone for Carlos. Quizzically, he pulled it out of his pocket. “Mayor Cardinal,” the phone flashed, still ringing.

“Dana? Hello? What’s up?”

“Cecil, you have to get down to City Hall _right now.”_

“Is something wrong?”

“The beast is after Carlos.”

Time seemed to stop. Or maybe it actually did, and he was caught in it for a long while. City Council had said the beast was _deadly._ It was a relentless hunter, stalking its prey, able to sense them over a long distance. It _couldn’t_ be after Carlos. _Why?_

“I’m coming,” he said shakily as he hung up. He walked into the hallway and took a deep breath. “KAREEM! I need you to finish the broadcast! Assuming the supply closet didn't kill you!”

Kareem’s head, luckily still attached to the rest of his body, poked out of the broadcast booth. “What?”

“I need to save Carlos!” he yelled over his shoulder as he jogged out of the station. Kareem knew his way around the station equipment enough to handle the rest of the broadcast. Cecil had the thought that Station Management might try to kill him (again) for leaving before he finished the broadcast, but he figured that Station Management would understand as it was a matter of the heart. He broke through the doors of the station, cursed the fact that it was a Friday, and ran in the direction of City Hall.

Cecil ran down the drive up to the station, his tattoos swirling in fear. They were colored red by adrenaline, thrashing and ready to form into whatever he needed, to leap off his skin and attack the beast that was chasing his boyfriend. He turned onto Gatesman and then onto Barback, the shortest way to Main Street.

_SCEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN_ echoed from the direction he was running. As he turned on to Main Street he saw it. It looked like a cross between a Librarian and a deer, and something much, much, worse. It was stampeding down the street, tentacles thrashing, hoofs creating sparks as they hit the pavement, screeching as it chased after a lone figure in a bright white lab coat. A flash of black light and four other figures appeared on the other side of City Hall at the very moment the sun started setting.

Cecil watched in horror as Carlos tripped over something at the same time a long white tentacle slipped around him and lifted him bodily into the air. The tentacle reared back and threw him into the side of a building. He landed in a limp heap of white lab coat and limbs.

_“CARLOS!”_ Cecil screamed.

His tattoos shifted into tentacles and burst off his skin, attaching themselves like extra arms on his ribs. Running full-tilt at the beast, he whipped them out at it. The beast screeched again and advanced on Carlos, not caring about the tentacles just missing its back. Cecil growled and stuck at the beast again, succeeding in whacking it on the back with several tentacles. It screeched and reared up on its back legs, kicking at the air in front of it. Two of the Erikas walked up to its front, holding their arms above their heads as a sort of clumsy protection, but didn’t get very far; the beast’s tentacles were too violent to get past. A third appeared next to Cecil and yelled in his ear: “Hold its tentacles! We can’t get close enough!”

Cecil acknowledged this by whipping his tentacles out again and grabbing hold of the beast’s tentacles. It thrashed in his grip, writing and pulling, straining to get to Carlos. One of the Erikas got close enough to touch it, but it jumped up and kicked, sending Erika diving out of the way and pulling Cecil forward just enough for it to break out of his grip. The beast kicked backwards at him, and he scuttled backwards to just out of its reach. His tattoos curled back inward, forming a protective shell around him until he was fully out of range.

The third Erika pulled him to his feet and glared at the beast. It was advancing steadily on Carlos’s limp form. “We need to get it out of here, or kill it, or something. Did the government say anything about what to do if you ran across it?”

Cecil had to force himself to pause and think. “Mostly just to try not to cry in your final moments.”

“That is not helpful.”

“Not particularly, no.”

_SCEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN_ it shrieked and raised a hoof. Cecil whirled and whipped his tentacles out, grabbing the hoof before the beast could bring it down on the scientist crumpled against the building. Growling, he pulled and forcefully turned the beast away from his boyfriend. The beast stumbled towards him as he dragged it and yelled “Get ready!” at the Erikas. Once it was far enough away he let go of its leg and wrapped his tattoo tentacles around the beast’s own tentacles and pulled them away from its body. The Erikas flitted in and whacked the beast with.....a baseball bat? Was that a baseball bat? They whacked the beast with something that looked like a baseball bat and suddenly it was lying on the ground, oozing purple blood from several orifices and wounds.

One of the Erikas brushed off their hands on their shorts.

Cecil blinked for a moment. The power of the definitely-not-angels was apparent. He had absolutely no idea what had happened between blinks, yet the beast was dead, and Carlos was— _Carlos!_

He retracted his tentacles back into tattoos and stumbled over his own feet in his haste to get to Carlos. Old Woman Josie was kneeling over him already, one hand around his wrist and the other pressing a torn strip of his lab coat to a wound on his side. She looked up as Cecil approached. “As much as I hate to say this, he’s gonna need the hospital.”

He knelt and saw she was right. Carlos had a ring of abrasions and what was possibly acid burns around his waist and arm where the beast’s tentacle had grabbed him. That was going to be impossible to treat at home. “Yeah,” he croaked. Cecil had never asked Carlos why he hated hospitals with such a passion and hated to have to bring him to one, but possibly saving his life was more important than comfort right now.

Josie looked at him with concern. “I’ll call an ambulance. You take care of your man.” She pushed herself up on Cecil’s shoulder and hobbled over to the nearest flower pot, where she started yelling into the microphone.

Cecil pushed Carlos’s hair out of his eyes and gently stroked through his unruly curls. His heart stuttered when his hand came away covered in blood. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead. “Hang in there, Carlos, hang in there.”

* * *

> _Uhm....this is Intern Kareem, filling in for Cecil for the last little bit of the show. Cecil’s fine! It’s just, well, Carlos isn’t. The beast that the station’s been reporting on all day? Yeah it appaaaaaaaaaarently went after Carlos._
> 
> _I don’t really have many more details than that. Old Woman Josie called me from the hospital and wants me to report that Carlos will most likely make a full recovery, barring any complications like those creatures known as infections, and that as soon as he’s released Cecil is taking him back home and, I quote, “Cuddling him until his boots fall off” so, I’d expect a day or two of leave for Cecil. Honestly, I’m a little surprised Station Management hasn’t torn after him for leaving in the middle of the weather, but I suppose the fact that Mayor Cardinal called him gave him an initial excuse. Combine that with Station Management’s new.....relationship.....and I suppose they’ve gotten a little better in handling matters related to the heart._
> 
> _So anyway, everything is going to be all right. Allllllllll right._
> 
> _All right, Night Vale, goodnight._

* * *

 

Carlos was first aware of the pain. His torso was on fire, like a melting chain had been wrapped around him. The headache was nothing compared to it. He moaned and scrunched his eyes tighter, a habit left over from a childhood half-remembered.

“Carlos,” a voice said by his ear. It was clear and cool and deep and familiar and Carlos finally managed to open his eyes to look at the voice. Cecil was lying right next to him, one hand tucked under the pillow, the other tracing circles on Carlos’s arm. Cecil smiled at him. “There you are. How are you feeling? Better than last time?”

Carlos did not remember waking up a “last time,” which was slightly worrying. Come to think of it, what was the last thing he remembered? He was in his lab, finishing an equation, and then something had stepped out of the shadows.....There was nothing after that. Nothing solid, at least. Flashes of running, white walls, beeping?

“Was I in the hospital?”

Cecil flinched and seemed to shrink into himself. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I couldn’t treat what it did to you at home and Josie thought it was probably best and I agreed and—”

“Shhhh, it’s fine,” Carlos cut him off. “I have a feeling I was on enough painkillers to not care.”

A small smile appeared on Cecil’s face. “You got really cuddly. I’m not sure if it was the painkillers or the surroundings but Josie had to have the Erikas pry your hand off my arm when you woke up so they could finish making sure you were all right.” The smile faded, and Cecil’s hand traced a path up to Carlos’s neck and then down his chest. “Are you all right?”

He considered. The pain really wasn’t that bad, now that he was more awake. He’d had much, much worse. He hadn’t tried moving anything below his shoulders, but suspected Cecil wouldn’t let him and that he wouldn’t really want to. “All things considered? Yeah. A little beat up, but I’ll be back up in no time.”

Cecil’s hand traced back up to his face and cupped his cheek, a silent request. Carlos turned his head and met Cecil’s lips. It was soft, and caring, and everything he could ever want. “Good,” Cecil murmured against his lips, “because I love you, and I want to go on that date we never got to start. I was thinking maybe we could take another stab at figuring out the kitten situation over some Big Rico’s and go from there.”

Carlos stifled giggles only because he was pretty sure they would hurt. “Sounds like a plan.” Maybe, he thought, he could finally give Cecil the bloodstone ring he’d had in his coat pocket for the past couple weeks.

Maybe, Cecil thought, he could finally give Carlos the silver ring that he’d hidden in the station for the past month or so.

**Author's Note:**

> so you know how you start writing something and go "eh, this'll probably be less than a thousand words, nothing big" and then it isn't.  
> yeah that's this.
> 
> I can't believe I rise from the grave with Night Vale I thought it was gonna be the endless amounts of Tony Stark in my head and my google drive and my room and my heart and my tumblr and.....yeah  
> I'm going back to the grave now until AP Lit decides to Kindly Fuck Off.


End file.
